I preface this review with the fact I read the name of the series Paladin Warriors, and was *squee* Paladins! I love knights and dragons, swords and sorcery. Bring it on!!

I read a bit further to see that the author’s take on Paladins was angels from The One God that had chosen to come to earth to fight Lucifer’s minions. *double squee*

Oh wait, the hero is a vampire. Still a Paladin, but somehow a vampire was able to turn a holy being. Hmmm, probably a bit of story there, hopefully a good story . . . Still hoping for the Paladin parts to be really good even if they’re not as powerful as I would’ve thought.

IF you are a huge fan of vampire romance, this might be your cup of tea. If you are looking for Holy Paladins, Guardians of the Light, and Knights in Shining armor, this story isn’t for you.

Pros

Steamy scenes were pretty good.

The background characters were amazing. I *loved* Logan, I liked Vallin by the end, and Alexander was also cool. Gabby was wonderful, and Christos easy to hate.

Cons

Flashback scenes were jarring and didn’t actually help with the story. As a matter of fact, they were a tad confusing.

The Paladins are NOT *Paladins* They are rapists. To force yourself on someone, to forcibly “mark” them against their will, a mark that will bare their thoughts and feelings as well?!? Really? And every one of them was ready to forcibly mark Karissa because she was the last female paladin? Really? Maybe their order deserves to go extinct. Not sure what separates them from the Darkness. Why would the Light even allow this forcible marking? Shouldn’t the Light demand consent or smite the Paladin doing the marking?

By the way, why were there no other female Paladins? Low birth rate, but why a low birth rate? And how did the ones that birthed the rapey paladins all manage to die? Book never does a great job explaining it. From some of the flashback scenes, seems like allthe women were together for some reason and the forces of darkness pounced. I hope to hell that wasn’t the reason. Those ladies should’ve lit the forces of darkness up and taught them what it means to mess with a celestial being. But, you know, there were no big strong men around to protect them. *gag*

The plot was weak. It appeared to be: everyone wants Karissa. Whether to forcibly subject her, as per the Paladins, or for her blood, as per Lucifer and gang. No idea why Lucifer wants her blood, and he gets it, so he wins.Not really the ending I was expecting in a Romance novel. Yeah, the hero and heroine also survive, but I don’t expect the bad guys to get what they want.

I didn’t like the heroine from the beginning and never came around to liking her. Might be the temper tantrums. Might be everyone saying how powerful she is and then her constantly being a damsel in distress. She doesn’t do much of anything to save herself other than run away. Which, yeah, can be viable strategy, but then get the heck away! Quick synopsis of her story:

Captured and brought to Roland.

Sorta willingly taken to Haven with all the rapey Paladins, but then goes unconscious because of reasons and is imprisoned in a bedroom. I rolled my eyes when she simply walks out of Haven (who was guarding their most precious victim?). In the middle of the night. And doesn’t notice it’s still night until the door closes behind her. Right.

Good thing there’s a rapey Paladin that catches her and who’s about to force himself on her but has to stop so he can save her from a couple vampires and demons.

Good thing the vampire Paladin gets there in time to save her from the other Paladin . . . ‘Cause, you know, she’s so powerful . . .

The fact that later in the story she leaves the cabin when her vampire Paladin can’t, after she was told not to . . . Are you surprised she’d abducted (again)?

She’s taken to the coal mines where she’s drained of blood and tortured . . . in a romance novel . . .

Serious damsel in distress. And I have no idea why she’s considered so powerful, or why an author has torture in a Romance novel. All I can come up with was that the author desperately wanted her to be vampire by the end rather than Rolland being redeemed to the Light and returning as a full Paladin (which is the Happily Ever After ending I was expecting a la the Circle Trilogy from Nora Roberts – great trilogy, by the way.).

Karissa has no real growth or development, either. In the last scene, she is being all squeamish over helping dissolve the remains of a really bad guy and ewww, she can’t touch it. Even though there are Paladins (granted rapey ones) fighting all round her, risking their lives, to save her.

I opened the book wanting to love the Paladins, ready to love them, in fact. I came to hate them (except for Logan). The vampire ended up being the best of the lot (surprise twist, Logan ends up being Karissa’s brother, so no super nice guy for her!), and I kept hoping for there to be something that redeems the vampire Paladin and brings him to the light. Yeah, no.

He is still a vampire at the end, and now, so is she. No happily ever after for me. Looks like the end of the line for the Paladins as she was the last female one of them and now she’s undead. Not sure that’s entirely bad, given their propensity to not require consent.

Not a book I remotely recommend, but if you do read it, don’t get too caught up in the Paladin Warriors title.